October 14, 2011

School of Art and Design offers public tour

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A glass house, a metal house, an industrial wing, a foundry, a glove factory.  These are all facilities belonging to the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  And the public is invited to visit them and to find out what happens there.

The annual Graduate Studio Walk-Through, as the public tour of the facilities is called, is Oct. 21.  Here’s the schedule:

3:30 p.m. -- Foundry (1560 W. Pleasant Hill Rd.) -- The Foundry complex includes studios and large sculpture outdoor display areas, metal pouring facilities, a woodshop and more.

4:15 p.m. -- Pulliam Hall, Industrial Wing -- Pulliam Hall is home to classrooms for ceramics, glass and metalsmithing and blacksmithing, including clay and gas-fired kilns and a glass hot shop.

5 p.m. -- Glass House/Metals House (1002 W.Whitney St. and 805 S. Oakland Ave.) -- This facility contains private studio space for graduate students and shared studio space for undergraduates. 

5:45 p.m. -- Glove Factory (432 S. Washington Ave.) -- The Glove Factory holds studio space, and is also the location of the Surplus Gallery, a large, unstructured art exhibition space.   Art-making facilities include a woodworking shop and welding area.

6:30 p.m. -- Cookout at the Glove Factory

An art exhibition created by the C4 Sculpture Group will be open in the Surplus Gallery during the walk-through.

The School of Art and Design holds this walk-through each year to give students the opportunity to see art studio facilities not commonly open to the public, and to share with the greater University community some of the work the art students have under way.

The tour is free and no sign-up is required.  Light refreshments for tour guests are available at each stop on the walk-through.

For more information about the School of Art and Design, visit http://artanddesign.siuc.edu.